City changes plans for King Street discussion

This morning, Historic City News received word from Bruce Maguire that he had received a “change of plans” from Administrative Coordinator, H. Jade Nicolay, at the Public Works Department of the City of St Augustine; regarding the previously announced public hearing of the Proposed King Street Redesign.

A substantial number of King Street merchants and residents along the “King Street Entrance Corridor”, between Riberia Street and Granada Street, including those who live or do business on the adjacent parallel or intersecting streets, were energized in March 2012, after they received only two-week’s notification from the Florida Department of Transportation about a pending shutdown of King Street — allowing them inadequate time to prepare.

“It appears they have changed the footprint of the King Street project to include the section between Avenida Menendez and Granada Street,” Maguire informed local news reporters. “If you remember, we chose the strip between Granada and Ponce de Leon Boulevard to organize because the east end of King Street was always included in the downtown improvements.”

Maguire says his fear is that “downtown improvement” efforts have never included the west end of King Street. Further, he says, we need to ensure that the City’s improvement efforts do not shift the focus to downtown.

“I don’t mind the entire city coming to the meeting,” Maguire remarked. “But this last minute change only reinforces our need to stand strong for improvements on the west end of King Street — where the problems are.”

The date, time and location of the meeting previously announced by Vice-Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline remain unchanged. If you are planning to attend, mark your calendars for April 24, 2014 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Markland House, located at 102 King Street.